The Artillery Song

Each of the Arms and Services have their own song. These songs are played during a "march in review" at a parade or muster. From Garry Owen (Armor and Cavalry), Cadets on Parade (Infantry), Essayons (Engineers), to Caissons of the Artillery. When the lord high muckety-mucks decided to elevate Caissons to the Army Song, the lyrics became meaningless and they lost the old lyrics. The following are the lyrics to Caissons, as written in the Plilippines during the Moro Rebellion:


Over hill, over dale,
We have hit the dusty trail,
And those caissons go rolling along.
“Count-er march! Right about”
Hear those wagon soldiers shout,
While those caissons go rolling along.

For it’s Hi! Hi! Hee! in the Field Artillery,
Call off your numbers loud and strong
2, 3, 4
And where-e’re we go
You will always know
That those caissons are rolling along.
(Keep ’em rolling)
That those caissons are rolling along.

To the front, day and night
Where the doughboys dig and fight
And those caissons go rolling along.
Our barrage will be there
Fired on the rocket’s glare
While those caissons go rolling a-long.
For it’s Hi! Hi! Hee! in the Field Artillery,
Call off your numbers loud and strong
2, 3, 4
And where-e’re we go
You will always know
That those caissons are rolling along.
(Keep ’em rolling)
That those caissons are rolling along.
Battery Halt!

The counter march right about were important because the field artillery cannon were pulled by horses connected to the caisson (ammunition wagon) which supported the trail of the cannon or howitzer. Artillery would enter the battle facing the enemy then counter march, every section going right about so the guns faced the enemy, and that wouldn't run into each other while doing it.

Calling off your numbers referred to the jobs of each cannoneer during the process of emplacing and shooting the piece. Each cannoneer had a number from 1 to 6 to 12 (depending on the size of the crew). Calling off their numbers announced that they were in position and ready to continue with the (fire) mission. The lower numbers were reserved for assistant gunners, loaders, fuse cutters, powder cutters, rammers, and ammunition suppliers. The other parts of the Army did not do this, so it was always an interesting occasion for other observers. This is still done today for training new cannoneers at Ft. Sill Oklahoma.

So Long Naughts

New Year's eve, 2009. So long "naughts", I can't say it has been good knowing you. Looking forward to the "teens". Maybe we can redress some grievances. Maybe the world will end in 2012 as per the worlds prognosticators and more primitive religions. Maybe the US government will do away with income tax. Maybe Oklahoma can win an important bowl game. Maybe some raghead will nuke New York. Maybe some raghead will try to nuke New York but will die puking of radiation poison before he can. Maybe Barak Obama will do his job. Maybe Nancy Pellegro's face will freeze that way do to the botox.

Going into my seventh decade, nothing will surprise me. No politician too dumb or crooked; no act of charity too selfless; no person who fails to act with courage when needed. Bless the rough men who protect us.

A hobby

Every since I was a toddler, I have ridden the Frisco and Santa Fe trains. I decided a few years ago, with IHC listing of an HO version of the Frisco Firefly, to look into collectiong HO gauge Frisco (a fallen flag) engines and rolling stock. I now have a Frisco Firefly, a Frisco Meteor, a Santa Fe super Chief and a Santa Fe olive drab chief. These are not part of a layout; I just set them on my book cases and look at them.

I do have pictures of me and Old Frisco steam passenger service to Claremore. I love real trains. I have traveled the Tulsan, Kansas City Chief, Chicagoan, Super Chief, El Capitan, Meteor, Firefly, PennTexan, Broadway Limited, National Limited, Capitol Limited, Orient Express, and lately of all things have taken my children and grand children on the Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend. I do love old trains.

Since my first real jobs were in foundries and steel mills, I have also collected the steel making series with ladles, rail thermoses, ingots, rolling mills, blast furnaces,ets. Some dayI will put it all together. However, I am getting along in years and the younger generations are only interested in nientendo and Wii. Manyana. I think the marxist/liberals have killed our past.

Now for the quiz: In this post I have used the one word in the English language with the most definitions. If you do drop by here, can anyone tell me what it is.

I am not a news Aggregator

It is obvious that I don't post very often. My site meter doesn't work so I don't know if anybody reads any of this anyway. I will comment on news or other comments on my recommended sites.

The world and The United States is in turmoil with the premature socialist attempt of take over, within the US and through the United Nations. I think this attempt is premature. I think the socialists have overstepped. If they just try to salvage what they can of their programs and back off, in the US, they will probably have other days. I fear, however, these people don't know how to back off and they will push the population into reaction. This worries me. We lost over 500,000 in our last civil war. If we get another one, there are more than 500,000 marxist college professors, pedefiles, and con artists, and these people have an unrealistic evaluation of their own physical and military prowess. The butchers bill will make the last civil war pale in camparison.

Fun with the king of battle

Infantry has always been considered to be the queen of battle. Artillery is known as the King of battle because they place their balls where the queen wants them. My experience with all this dates from the very early 1960s where Uncle Sam assigned me to protect Europe from the red plague. I don't have pictures of the M-109 155 howitzer that I later served with, but here are the two towed howitzers we had: To the left is A battery firing 105mm towed howitzer. The shell is separate (not separate loading, which means you screw in the fuse, pull the projo off the shell and cut and remove powder to the amount you need, stick it back together, hand it to the loader and shoot.

Next is B battery in the snow with 155mm howitzers. Notice tha A battery is in a tree line with camoflauge nets. B battery is in a staggered formation with the howitzers one bursting radius apart. That means when they fire a "fire for effect" the whole target area will be filled with no gaps in coverage.

This is what one of these howitzers looks like up close. It throws a 94 pound projo (give or take a few squares (artillery talk). The ammunition is separate loading, which means you screw in the fuse and load the projo, then the powder after you take out what you don't need.







Here is the money picture. Not a handful of people in a million have ever seen this. When you see this, get ready to go deaf. When you can see this, you know somebody out there is in a heap of trouble.








Lest you forget what we are here for, here is what you see when the tumult and the fighting dies:

















Artillerymen are driven creatures. The most important things in their lives are the guns and the mission. Their job is to put metal on target, even if they have to carry it out there on their back.

If you happen to stop by --

If you happen to stop by, leave a comment. I do some commenting around the net at both liberal and conservative sites. My comments are generally cold water on the prevailing thread, and are often the last comments posted. I like to bring the other commenters back down to Earth from their flights of fancy. Welcome to the site.

The Obama

I love it. Two comments on the Pajamas Media site:

Upon the Obamaniacs comparing The Obama to Jesus - "Obama spends while Jesus saves."

and

"The difference between The Obama and Jesus is that Jesus knew how to build a cabinet."